At 11:00 am (1600 GMT), the eye of the storm was about 485 miles (785 kms) southeast of Wilmington, North Carolina, moving in a northwest direction at 15 mph (24 kph).

While the storm's maximum sustained winds edged lower on Wednesday, those of tropical-storm-force expanded outward, extending 195 miles and putting more people at risk when the storm finally comes ashore, expected near the border separating the Carolinas.

Florence's intensity has diminished since it roared ashore along the USA mid-Atlantic coast on Friday as a hurricane. He said they have been preparing with their natural gas unit. He urged people to leave immediately rather than face the wrath of the "once in a lifetime" storm.

The surge from Florence will be particularly risky due to the flat nature of the coastline off North Carolina and SC, allowing the storm to pile a lot of water over a large area.

"Yes, the winds will be bad, but really the water is what will be deadly", said Rob Galbraith, director of underwriting research for insurance firm USAA.

"He was thinking of coming here until this morning, and now he asked me if I wanted to come up there", he said.

Emergency preparations in the area included setting up shelters, switching traffic patterns so that all major roads led away from shore and getting 16 nuclear reactors ready in the three-state region for the storm.

Some 7,000 guard members are ready to mobilize in North Carolina, while 1,100 will be activated in SC.

Florence could become the most powerful storm to hit the area in more than 60 years if its intensity continues.

They showed us instruments that function nearly like weather balloons, that are dropped into the storm to gather data that satellites can't.

Manure lagoons are about as pleasant as they sound-vast open-air ponds of manure located next to the many hog farms near the North Carolina coast. The hurricane center also adjusted its projected track but stayed north of what most computer models were showing to prove some continuity with past forecasts. "This rainfall would produce catastrophic flash flooding and significant river flooding", the NHC said.

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